BBC to sell digital box-set classics and series in new online BBC Store

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As part of the BBC's announcements on the digital future for the broadcaster, director-general Tony Hall has revealed that the corporation will set up a new online BBC Store which will sell digital collections of its programmes for the user to keep forever.

"Because we know people often want to go back and see older programmes - sometimes classics, sometimes more recent - we plan to launch something called BBC Store, a new commercial online service which will offer people in the UK the chance to buy a whole range of programmes to watch and keep forever," he said.

That means that entire collections of BBC favourites like Fawlty Towers and Doctor Who will be available for a fee. Whether this is in the cloud, as a download or perhaps both is yet to be explained, but it effectively means that the Beeb is going head-to-head with services such as iTunes and Google Play.

It will also be interesting to see what the BBC's own expanded services mean for its deals with Netflix, Lovefilm and other subscription-based streaming platforms. At present, they each offer extensive libraries of BBC series to watch through an internet connection. With the broadcaster opening an online content shop and making wide-reaching changes to its iPlayer service, will it continue to provide access to its properties to rivals?